Ben Affleck and Kevin Smith aren’t friends anymore

Kevin Smith was asked at Comic-Con about whether or not he’s seen Ben Affleck. His response? Not just a simple “no”.

"Great question. I don’t know, because we're not f-cking tight. I have not been [close with him] in decades. That's old Ben. He's got a wife that don't [sic] care for me at all [Laughs]. And plus, honestly, he probably don't care for me at all anymore. He's a triple-A-list movie star and s--t like that. If he's Jimmy Carter, I'm Billy Carter, to put it in '70s terms. And I'm not even related and s--t." (Source)

Smith claims that his comments were taken out of context and his publicist is telling E! News that he was just joking.

But…

He has kinda talked like this before.

A couple of weeks ago at a speaking engagement at Carnegie Hall, he also mentioned that Jennifer Garner wasn’t inviting him over all the time for cupcakes:

"Jennifer does not share the same sense of humor as me — she did not like my jokes. I was picking on Ben Affleck making fun of him because I've known him for a really long time — I was talking smack — and Jennifer goes, 'You know, if you keep saying stuff about him, I'm going to kick your a--.' And she could — I've seen Alias. She has a real girly sense of humor and didn't understand that I was kidding. I remember talking to Ben and being like, 'I know your lady is not finding me amusing. Ben, I've known you for years, and you are far sicker than I am!' His jokes are way dirtier than mine. He's made jokes to me, and I've been like, 'Ben, you need to go to church.'" (Source)

Does Jennifer Garner really hate Kevin Smith? If so…why?

Maybe this movie?

Jersey Girl.

Kevin Smith wrote and directed it. During that time, Ben was making really, really sh-tty movie choices. Then? Jennifer Garner came along and he totally turned around his career. So while she may be a taupe square, he owes a lot of that to her.

Of course this wouldn’t have been a big deal, Kevin Smith’s jokes or not-jokes, if Mark Ruffalo hadn’t implied recently that he and Garner don’t talk anymore because Ben doesn’t like it. Click here for a refresher.

In combination, both perspectives are providing some insight into the Affleck-Garner dynamic. Maybe that’s unfair, to make assumptions about their relationship based on the off-hand remarks of two people who are no longer close to them. That said, there’s always been a fragility to Affleck’s comeback that makes these stories believable, almost as though his hold on success and well-being is tenuous, because, as Gwyneth Paltrow once described, Ben can be his own worst enemy; Ben can’t help but f-ck it up for himself.

As his wife then, through thick and thin, as rare as that is in Hollywood, it’s a difficult position to play. Where’s the balance between encouraging him to be great and protecting him from himself? And what would she have had to sacrifice? Or tolerate? Or NOT tolerate?